Katharine McPhee Will Make Her Broadway Debut as ‘Waitress’ Lead

Sugar, Butter, McFlour — Katharine McPhee will officially make her Broadway debut in Waitress this spring, current lead Sara Bareilles announced on Twitter.

The American Idol alum, who's been keeping busy as an in-demand network TV actress, will take over for Bareilles in April, and she told The Associated Press she's ready to get her hands dirty (and then clean them before proper pie preparation, of course).

“People come up to me all the time and say, ‘You’ve done Broadway, right?’ And I’m like, ‘Nope, I’ve never done it,’ ” McPhee said. “I did a show about it but I was never, in fact, on Broadway. So this is really my first moment.”

Bareilles, who also wrote the show's Tony-nominated song catalog, took over for lead of the show for a short run in 2017 and then returned in 2018.

"I’m passing a pie to @katharinemcphee! So excited for her to start her shift at the diner as Jenna on April 10," she wrote with notice of the casting shift. And fans are certainly ready for McPhee to start cooking up some magic.

"Why must you keep picking such great people to take over?! Flights to NYC to see them ain’t cheap! #livingonabudget #exceptionsforWaitress #anybodygotsomecheaptix," one fan wrote, while another noted "THIS IS AMAZING! I's totally unexpected, for me, but ot's a huge joy! Go @katharinemcphee, we can't wait(ress) to see you at the diner! Break a leg."

Waitress, which debuted on Broadway in 2016 with Jessie Mueller as the lead, is based on Adrienne Shelly's eponymous 2007 film, and follows a beaten-down diner server who's trapped in an abusive marriage in small-town America. Still, she continues to hope that her talent for making wacky pies will eventually help her to make enough money to win a contest and skip town with the cash prize.